Dark Ones
' ' Dark Ones are sentient humanoid creatures who are the descendants of humans that survived nuclear holocaust and are completely adapted to this new post-apocalyptic world. The player rarely encounters them during the game as they are essentially the hardest enemy, but this is only due to their telepathic abilities. Physically, they are quite weak as they can die from 5 shots from the revolver. This is shown when Artyom shoots one at the top of the tower, during the end of the vision. The Dark Ones seem to be able to exert some telepathic control over the other mutants. Little is known about Dark Ones but there are many stories, rumors and theories about Dark Ones, some people say the Dark Ones are created when Metro residents are kidnapped and taken to the Dark Ones hidden lair, some people believe that they are the next step in human evolution (''Homo Novus), others however think that they are new subspecies of species Homo Sapien and our closest relatives. There is semi-rumored legend going around that the Dark Ones want have peace with their human brothers and sisters and be reunited as one people. =Morphology, Appearance, and Evolution= The direct appearance of a Dark One is quite strange. They have long arms and legs, all quite thin. The arms ends large hands has long fingers. The skin color, just like many other mutants are a dark, grey color. Despite their physical appearances the Dark Ones are very closely related to Humans, in terms of biology are not that dissimilar to Humans but are better adapted to the world of Metro 2033. They are highly resistant to radiation, cold temperatures, and also have a extrasensory precession. They look weaker than other mutants but the Dark Ones seem to be able to exert some telepathic control over the other mutants. Dark Ones, however, seem to a have a hard time controlling the mind of other sentient beings, like Humans. Dark Ones induce fear telepathically to scare their enemies away and they also able to “think” their enemies to death or into a comatose state. Dark Ones are not capable of vocal communication like humans but instead communicate telepathically with their own species and other beings. =Origin of The Dark Ones= '(Pieced together by earsdropping on conversations or listening to the stories of NPC’s and Enemies in the game. It maybe incomplete or has missing pieces) ' Dark Ones are descended from the few human survivors who were trapped in a station called Kievskaya. According to legend, there was an explosion, which buried the people in this station alive, and that these people survived. When they emerged from the station, they no longer resembled humans, radiation and large number of different bio-weapons (mutagens and such) that were released during the war have been leaking into the station and mutated the surviving inhabits into the mysterious beings who the other Metro inhabits call the Dark Ones. Presently in the game, a strange fog has been sighted near this station, and anyone who has ventured towards is, has not returned. Kievskaya is the location of the Dark ones lair, and the place where the missles hit (if the evil ending is portrayted). Many of these survivors tried to make their way to the other settlements of the Metro, in hope of finding other people. When they found the human settlements, intead of being welcomed with open arms they were all rejected, casted out, hunted away or even killed by their fellow man. The mutations has changed them so far that they are not even recognizable as humans beings and their newly evolved telepathic powers didn’t help either. Unable to speak they desperately try to communicate telepathically but their powers were too strong and with very little control over these powers they literally ending up “thinking” people to death when they try to communicate with them. To protect Humans from themselves and with no place to go these mutated survivors grouped together and build small fortified outpost on the surface at Kievskaya, that slowly grew over the years. There they continue to train themselves to gain better control over these powers and try to find a way to communicate safely with the humans without “thinking” them to death. Most of the humans believe the Dark Ones want to destroy them, but they only want peace, and their "Mind Games" are only attempts to communicate with people. Since Artyom appears to be relatively immune, it is obvious why the Dark Ones chose him to commune with. Khan is also immune, and it is speculated that he too knows about the Dark Ones, which is why he hints to The Player to take the good path and help them. In the book it says some Exhibition guards captured a Dark One. This is the paragraph in the book: "''...remember, six months ago we managed to take one of them captive?.' 'I remember' spoke up pyotr andreevich. 'He sat in our lock-up for two weeks, wouldnt drink our water, wouldnt eat our food and then croaked'. "you didnt interogate him?' asked the man (Hunter). 'they didnt understand anyhing...they spoke plain russian...they'd beat him and nothing...he would growl once in a while...then he gave out the loudest howl when he died, woke the whole station up' '' Trivia * In the level "Lost Catacombs", during the dream that Bourbon tries to open the gate, you can see the arm of a Dark One pulling you and Bourbon in before the gate closed. *The first time Artyom encounters a Dark One, is in the level Chase, the minecart rides through the Ghost of a Dark One, and an Anomaly appears which knocks Artyom out, in a dream Hunter shoots a Dark One trying to grab Artyom. *"Homo Novus" means "New Man" in latin, and was a term used by Romans. *They are often seen in many of Artyom's "dreams" or visions. *Dark Ones have extreme telepathic power, there are many examples of this shown throughout the game. Examples are telepathically speaking to the player, being able to manipulate Artyom's mind, or sending him into a dream-like state. *If you look around after the vision in Dead City 1 where you see the children in the playground, you can see a Dark One watching you near the way you're meant to go, but it runs away after a few seconds. *When in Dead City 1, in the office building a Dark One says "save, life." When you go past into the walkway with the elevator a Dark One sprints off in a blur. *In Dead City 1, a Dark One can be seen through a fence in a passage close to a dead Ranger and runs away after it notices you. Right after that in Dead City 2, you will encounter Bourbon on the other side of the building at the same place probably looting the Rangers corpse. *In a later part of the game they can be heard talking to Artyom saying that all they want is to help and understand him. *It is likely, that they used Artyom as an "ambassador" in order to convince the other humans to agree to an ceasefire or an alliance between both species in order to reestablish human supremacy over the world. However this is just a conjecture. In the novel it is stated, that Men and the Dark Ones are meant to live in a symbiotic society. The Dark Ones would need Man's technology and knowledge of the history and the humans would need the Dark Ones toughness to withstand harsh environments and their psychic and psionic power to avert dangers like the Biomass. *During "Hunter", you see several soldiers who have been attacked by Dark ones, basically destroying their minds. These could be failed attempts at talking to other humans, as when Artyom is attacked by Dark Ones, he simply starts to sleep walk (off a tower), while the soldiers go into a coma and then die. *The Dark Ones have a classic "Martian" appearance to them, with long arms/legs and being very tall. Category:Mutants